


Finding Home

by dynamitedragon



Series: The Family You Find [1]
Category: Invader Zim, The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Dib joins the space race, Found Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:14:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,394
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22230013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dynamitedragon/pseuds/dynamitedragon
Summary: Dib finds a new home and family in space after a bet with Zim goes wrong.
Series: The Family You Find [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600174
Comments: 7
Kudos: 17





	Finding Home

**Author's Note:**

> I have about 14 chapters planned for this, so keep an eye out ;)

It was a day like any other when the bet was made. Dib had discovered Zim’s latest scheme and stopped it- which was normal. What wasn’t normal was Zim’s comment in the aftermath. They usually exchanged witty banter and it was certainly no surprise to hear Zim hurl insults at him, he usually spat his own right back at the Irken. Dib was well aware of Zim’s opinions on humans, especially the worm one. What really got to him was Zim’s comments on humans not being capable of understanding the complexities of Irken tech coupled with a snide mention of that being the reason why Dib could never get Tak’s ship to work.

It wasn’t a particularly creative insult, but the part about Tak’s ship managed to invoke more rage in Dib than anything else the Irken had said that day. He had thought that he’s kept Tak’s ship hidden enough in his garage to escape the Irkens notice, to hear it brought up so casually after what should have been a victory for Dib was disconcerting. It meant that Zim had known about his attempts to fix it, had known and chosen to ignore it. It meant Zim didn’t see him as a real threat, and that scared Dib more than any room with a moose ever could. How could he protect his planet from this invader if he was being treated as nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Was he even really stopping the invasion or was he just a small distraction? Unwilling to let that comment in particular slide, Dib had shot back with as much confidence as he could muster and told Zim that he would have the ship functioning again and that Zim would regret not taking him seriously.

That had been over a month ago and Dib was still struggling to find earthen replacements for some of the more delicate parts of the ship. It had more or less taken over his life at this point, the need to show the Irken up pushing even his love of paranormal investigation to the back burner. The only upside was that without his customary ramblings about the paranormal, his dad was much more willing to let him rummage through the scrap piles from his lab to find usable parts. Not by much, and not often, but it was something. Dib was sure his dad still thought him insane, but convincing him otherwise seemed impossible.

  
At the moment he was stuck trying to find a suitable replacement for fuel- short of stealing it from Zim he wasn’t sure how to proceed. He had a small sample of what had been left in the fuel tank, but he didn’t want to give it to his dad on the off chance that it put him into another science kick. The last one had lasted for months before Dib had seen him again, and he only had the one viable sample. Who knows how long it would be before his dad finished with it, especially since it would technically be a new source of power. There was one thing he could try though, Gaz had recently mentioned discovering a Myspace page for Zim’s robot dog- and Gir had been helpful in the past. Dib was almost certain that if he asked polite enough the robot would gladly help. It did come with the chance that Gir would tell Zim about it and that the Irken would sabotage him, but at this point it was a risk he was willing to take.

Messaging Zim’s robot was an odd experience. With how unintelligible Gir was normally it was quite a surprise to be able to talk to him normally over the internet. It had taken a while to convince Gir to get him some fuel- and he highly suspected that he hadn’t actually managed to convince Gir that it was a surprise for Zim- but he had finally gotten his hands on the fuel. There were only a few wiring issues to take care of before he’d be able to take off but they didn’t take long to correct. Confident that the ship could make a small trip he decided to take it into space and call Zim to gloat. He might even have lunch on the moon just because he could. In traditional Irken fashion the ship had an entire storage area dedicated to snacks, oddly enough he had had the strongest urge to stock it up before the trip. He wasn’t sure why, but it felt strangely important. It was the same strange gut feeling that had saved him from many an angry paranormal creature so he had gone with his gut. In an attempt to keep his sister out of his snack hold he had locked it with an Irken lock, which had proven to be a good idea because she had attempted to raid it a few days after. Gaz had been furious and he’d had to buy her quite a bit of Bloaty’s Pizza to get her to back off it. Spending the money on pizza instead of parts had set him back in his repairs but it was worth not having to weld the doors back together.

It was worth it though- all of the snide comments from Zim, the hard to find replacement tech, his sisters ire, it was all worth it. He’d finally done it- he was in space in the Irken Cruiser that he’d repaired all by himself. Feeling victorious he moved to the communications device and scrolled until he reached Zim’s contact. It was strange to see it on Tak’s ship given how much she hated Zim, but he assumed it was just there in case she wanted to call and make fun of Zim. It beeped for a few seconds before the Irken answered. Zim looked surprised.

“Dib-thing, how did you get the mighty Zim’s comm number?” the Irken demanded

“From Tak’s- no my ship, Zim” Dib boasted “ I guess humans aren’t as dumb as you thought, or maybe Irken tech isn’t as great as you think!” Of all of the reactions he’d imagined Zim having, maniacal laughter wasn’t one of them. Before he could demand answers Zim began speaking again.

“Foolish human, this was Zim’s plan all along! You were so busy working on the ship you did not notice my brilliant plan being put into action. With you in space there’s nothing to stop Zim now!” as Zim spoke Dib grew pale and the ringing in his ears grew so loud it drowned out the Irkens mad laughter. He’d made a serious mistake- he’d gotten so caught up with the ship he hadn’t even thought to keep an eye on Zim. Almost frantically he shut off the communications device and began punching commands into the navigation system to take him back home. In his state of panic he didn’t realize that he’d accidentally hit the autopilot until the ship was thrown into speeds he hadn’t thought possible. He’d known about a hyperspace function, but he hadn’t planned to use it for a simple test flight.

He was drawn out of his surprised stupor by sparks coming from the console in front of him. As quickly as he could manage, he ran for the tools he had on board and began attempting repairs. He quickly realized that without replacement wires he could do nothing to correct or stop the ships progress. Dib had managed to restore limited power to the controls but was hesitant to attempt a forced stop. It could damage the ship further and strand him in the middle of space. Unable to do anything more he collapsed in the pilot's chair and stared out the viewport at the brilliant white of hyperspace. He lost track of how long he’d been staring, but it must have been hours. As such he was totally unprepared for the ship to be thrown out of hyperspace and into a collision course with a planet. Overcome with a sense of panic he strapped himself in and began trying to slow the ship. With his limited control over the ship he managed to activate the small thrusters on the front of the ship and deploy the landing gear. Hoping it would be enough he braced for impact and the world went black, and he knew no more.

**Author's Note:**

> Reviews are welcomed


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